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144 THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF
monsters of Gothic horror have facilitated critiques of the Enlightenment
model of subjectivity and speculation about alternative ways of
being, so too might the ‘spiritual’ subjects of fantasy literature.
Although the title of their book suggests a focus on the science-fiction
cyborg, Janice Rushing and Thomas Frentz come close to developing a
more fantasy-oriented reading of the icon, through linking the cyborg
to the figure of the ‘spiritual hunter’. They note the resurrection of the
sublime that reveals postmodernism’s roots in romanticism, but express
concern that postmodernism ‘represses Spirit into the unconscious’,
invoking Jungian theory as an antidote because the notion of individuation
encourages the conscious exploration of spirituality. 53 Yet they
also quote approvingly from the neo-Jungian texts of Robert Bly and
his followers Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette (and in this sense,
Jungian theory can be seen to cultivate a dialogue between critical
and popular contexts in the same way that Freudian theory facilitated
traffic between such fields through accounts of the ‘beast within’).
Moore and Gillette’s King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering
the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine (1991) argues that the absence
of meaningful initiation rituals in Western society is symptomatic of
spiritual impoverishment, and is also behind a ‘crisis of masculine
identity’. 54 In support of this view, Rushing and Frentz advocate the
resurrection of spiritual initiation ceremonies such as those associated
with hunting. This approach draws on the logic of deep ecology,
which has been developed out of the observation of native cultures
by some environmental writers, and aims to foster a greater sense
of connectedness with nature through advocating activities such as
hunting. Gary Snyder, for example, endorses ‘spiritual’ hunting, in
which the hunter should aim to become ‘physically and psychically one
with the animal’. 55 Yet, such an emphasis on the interconnectedness of
nature and spirit is also echoed in ecofeminist thought — even though,
as Marti Kheel observes, ecofeminist philosophy is ‘diametrically opposed’
to hunting. 56
The spiritualization of hunting that emerges in populist and scholarly
adaptations of Jungian theory arises out of Jung’s emphasis on
biological and evolutionary origins, a focus that quickly leads to as-